UC Board considering tuition hikes

‘I have a spare kidney, so they might as well take that too’

The UC and CSU boards are considering raising the tuition due to the scarcity of funds and lower state funding, LA Times says. Reportedly, the University of California has increased student enrollment by 83,000 since 2000, but state funding has dropped from 72% in 2000 to 41% last year. Tuition since 2002 has quadrupled at UC, now at a cost of $12,294.

Early Thursday morning, the ASUC will organize buses to transport students to the a closed door meeting in San Francisco where UC leaders will discuss the tuition increases. There, the students will be able to share their opinion and protest the hikes.

LA Times reports, this comes after a six year freeze in tuition hikes- an order by California Governor Jerry Brown after the economic crash of 2008. UC President Janet Napolitano announced that she would not make a tuition recommendation until January, but told students a tuition hike would be necessary to make up for the decrease in state funding. To counter the increase in international and out-of-state students, UC has committed to admitting 10,000 more California students.

Students at UC Berkeley cringe at the potential increase of $280 annually per student.

Kayla Briones, a fourth year Linguistics major, responds to the potential tuition hikes: “I do know people who wouldn’t be able to afford college and who wouldn’t be at Cal without the help of their family members. The issue for me, as an upperclassman, is that I get financial aid so I do not feel the costs as much. It is hard to say what will happen to my financial aid if they do hike the costs.”

 

Kayla Briones, smiling pre-tuition hikes

Alexandria Finley, a second year EECS major, says: “I have a spare kidney, so they might as well take that too.”

Patrick Babajanian, a fourth year Peace and Conflict major says: “Overall, I believe that the state is obligated to provide quality and affordable public education without cutting any corners that save money but decrease the quality of said education, and that every student has the right to opportunities to advance their education regardless of their income…More prioritized spending by the universities in question would go a long way towards making use of the resources currently available, and in the long run the state needs to take a more active role in supporting its public education system.”

Patrick Babajanian

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UC Berkeley